The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

Timothy, as he describes it, is in a pickle. His Maytag oven started flashing “F5” and turning itself off whenever he turned it on. When the Maytag guy came over, he couldn’t figure out which model number it was and so he couldn’t repair it. “He asked for $130 for this useful piece of service, which I refused,” writes Timothy. Can you, dear Consumerist reader, identify which model this Maytag oven is? UPDATE: 13 minutes later, one reader thinks she has the answer.

With that information, Timothy will be able to get his oven fixed so he can make things like cakes and roast chickens. Hopefully he will also give it a nice cleaning so it doesn’t scare away any more repair guys either.

A Google search says that the F5 error code might mean there is a “watchdog and hardware conflict” and the oven’s clock or electronic range control might need to be replaced.